“We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.” During the season of Lent, we often hear those words when we participate in the Stations of the Cross. We come to adore him as he lays down his life for us. But closely connected with this devotion of Lent is the adoration of our Lord that takes place in our churches year round. I am constantly edified by the practice of Eucharistic adoration that is so widespread in our diocese, and I believe it is a source of enormous grace for all of us.
Eucharistic adoration is a centuries-long spiritual custom in the Church, and it flows from our celebration of the Mass. The faithful have always realized that Christ, who gives himself to us in the sacrifice of the Mass, remains with us in the reserved Blessed Sacrament in our churches. Remember the promise he made to his apostles: “I will be with you always, even until the end of the age.” As I tell the young people who are receiving their First Holy Communion, Jesus makes good on this promise in a beautiful way through the Eucharist. He is with us, and we come to him simply to be in his presence. St. John Vianney noticed a certain parishioner praying often before the tabernacle, and asked him what he was praying for. And the man replied, “I look at him, and he looks at me.”
Eucharistic adoration is a simple but powerful act of prayer. To adore Christ is to recognize him as the Son of God, to give him the worship that we owe him. In faith, we acknowledge that the Lord is with us, and he waits for us to come to him. Ideally, our adoration can happen in silence when we can better hear God speaking to our hearts. It is a time to listen, to hear his saving Word, his quiet promptings in our souls. In his presence, we remember his Incarnation: “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” We recall his teachings and the miraculous signs of his divine power: the healing of lepers, the multiplication of loaves and fishes, the calming of the storm at sea, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. We ponder his sacrificial love, shown through his suffering and death on the cross. We also remember his glorious resurrection, and can say with the beloved disciple, “It is the Lord.” Reading the Scriptures during Eucharistic adoration, especially the Gospel, is most fitting and fruitful as we kneel or sit before the Lord along with Mary of Bethany.
Our time of adoration before the Lord in the Eucharist is also an opportunity to pour out our hearts to him. We can share our joys and sorrows, our hopes and our needs. He hears us and reassures us of his love. It is a wonderful time to intercede for those we love, our spouses and children, family and friends, and anyone in need. Certainly it is an occasion to pray for the Church, which is always in need of God’s healing grace. We can pray for a culture of life, and for peace. Or, perhaps, we can simply gaze on the Lord with love and trust.
The time we spend in adoration may be very quiet and personal, but even in that moment we are united with all the faithful around the world. Prayer before the Eucharist is always an ecclesial prayer, a prayer that unites us with the Church. As I pray quietly, I am joining with brothers and sisters in Ukraine, Israel, Cuba, China, and my own hometown too. We are all joined in a spirit of adoration and love for our Savior, who gathers us together and holds us close to his heart. Through this time of prayer, Jesus forms us and sends us forth, just as he sent his apostles into the world. Pope Francis recently spoke of this sending: “Do we, I ask myself, believe in the power of the Eucharist? Does our going to others, our service, find its beginning and its fulfillment there, in adoration?” Through adoration of our Lord, we are formed for the mission that Jesus prepares for all of his disciples.
Adoration of our Lord in the Eucharist does indeed flow from the Mass, but it directs us toward the Mass as well. From our prayerful encounter with Jesus, we are moved to return to the celebration of his sacrifice. The Mass is the greatest prayer of the Church, and our adoration fills us with desire for this celebration of the Paschal Mystery. We seek once again to receive our Lord in Holy Communion, which is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet he prepares for us. And we should also keep in mind that our celebration of Mass is itself an act of adoration. Pope Benedict says, “Receiving the Eucharist means adoring him whom we receive.” St. Augustine says even more strongly, “No one eats that flesh (of Christ) without first adoring it; we should sin were we not to adore it.” The way we participate in Mass—our attentiveness and listening, our manner of receiving the Eucharist, our interaction with others—should always express adoration and worship of our Lord. After all, it is the mystery of salvation that unfolds before us, and we should rightly be filled with wonder and awe. Whether we come to him in the simplest chapel or the most magnificent basilica, we know that “It is the Lord.”
The Church in her wisdom calls us to adoration of our Lord, especially in the Holy Eucharist. So now, during this holy season of Lent and during our Eucharistic Revival, I invite everyone to come to Jesus and simply to adore him. It will be a blessing for you and for us all.